Top 10 Box Office Bombs That Turned Into Mainstream Classics

WatchMojo

From flop to phenomenon! Join us as we count down our picks for the movies that crashed at the box office but rose to become beloved classics. These films may have emptied theaters initially, but they later filled our hearts through TV broadcasts, VHS rentals, and word of mouth. Which financial failure became your favorite film?

Transcript

00:00There's no place like home. There's no place like home.

00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down art picks for the biggest box office

00:12feels that turns into the most beloved crowd pleasers.

00:15You just drank half and half baby.

00:17Freeze! Vegan police! Vegan police!

00:21Number 10, Heather's.

00:23My sacks and some Bach.

00:26How very.

00:29At a time when John Hughes' films defined what it meant to be a teenager, Veronica Sawyer

00:34found herself in a very different kind of movie, one with edgy jokes, a twisted romance, and

00:39yes, even murder.

00:40I knew this stuff would be too intense for her.

00:43Intense. Grow up. You think I'll drink it just because you call me chicken?

00:55Heather's upended every genre convention imaginable and did it all with a smile.

01:00But sadly, the reason it's beloved to this day is also why it failed to connect with audiences.

01:05It was too ahead of its time, and viewers weren't sure what to make of a genre-bending black comedy

01:10masquerading as a teen drama.

01:12Thankfully, a popular run on home video turned Heather's into the generational hit we all know and love.

01:18How very.

01:19I love to that teenager.

01:21That's it. We're breaking up.

01:25Number 9, Blade Runner.

01:27No one can say 1982's Blade Runner lack ambition, but that may have been part of the problem.

01:40While it's a cultural staple today, initial audiences were lukewarm on its heady themes and slow pace.

01:46As a result, it couldn't turn a decent opening weekend into a satisfying box office run.

01:51Ironically enough, the same fate would befall its long-awaited successor in 2017.

01:57The Blade Runner franchise might just be cursed or something.

02:08Then again, some critics blame the original film's performance on its competitive release date.

02:13Its June debut put it up against other sci-fi films like Star Trek II, E.T., and The Thing.

02:18Speaking of...

02:19It's too bad she won't live. But then again, who does?

02:27Number 8, The Thing.

02:41In the middle of his rise to the king of horror, a new scary movie from John Carpenter was actually

02:46seen as a gamble with general audiences. In this case, it's a gamble that didn't pay off. For starters,

02:52there's the aforementioned release date, which dropped The Thing in a summer full of other sci-fi flicks.

03:07To make matters worse, reveals weren't exactly glowing, with most contemporary critics finding The

03:13Thing overly gross, cynical, and bleak. Not exactly the summer escapism viewers were looking for.

03:19At the very least, home video came to rescue yet again, with modern audiences reevaluating The Thing

03:25as a landmark for the horror genre.

03:27If you're worried about me. If we've got any surprises for each other,

03:34I don't think we're in much shape to do anything about it.

03:37Number 7, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

03:40Hey, you've got it! You've got the last golden ticket! The kids found the last golden ticket!

03:46Open it up, sonny, sonny!

03:48Who doesn't want to visit a world of chocolate, wonder, and pure imagination? The answer is,

03:53apparently kids in the early 70s. Despite highly positive reactions and Gene Wilder doing what

03:59Gene Wilder does best, Wonka's Chocolate Factory didn't fill as many theater seats as expected.

04:04Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination.

04:12To be fair, it wasn't a complete bomb, and audiences were quick to realize their mistake.

04:17It didn't take long for Willy Wonka to become an enduring favorite on TV and VHS. Like a good

04:22chocolate bar, people just kept coming back for more. A remake, musical, and prequel later,

04:27it's safe to say Wonka's decade-spanning legacy is as sweet as it comes.

04:32You lose! Good day, sir! You're a crook.

04:37Number six, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

04:40Is Scott here?

04:42Uh, you know what? He just left.

04:45Squaring up against seven evil exes is hardly a walk in the park, but Scott was so busy fighting

04:53for Ramona's love, he forgot about the biggest threat of all, bad box office. Now, in all honesty,

04:59this one kind of makes sense. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is an unhinged comedic masterpiece.

05:05However, we don't even know how to begin describing it. Clearly, the marketing team had

05:10a similar issue, and the movie fell flat on its face at the multiplex.

05:14That's impossible.

05:16Okay, my bad.

05:17Your bad is saying my bad.

05:19Word of mouth is a powerful thing, though. Bolstered by strong reviews and incredible cast,

05:24and one of the largest cult following in modern media, Scott Pilgrim is now a

05:28household name in comedy.

05:30I was just a little bit curious.

05:32Well, honey, I'm a little bit curious.

05:45Number five, The Iron Giant.

05:47Pick me up, okay?

05:48If you want proof that there's no fairness in Hollywood, just look at The Iron Giant. This movie

06:04is brilliant. People know it now, and people knew it then, so how on earth did it lose so much money

06:10in theaters? Distributor Warner Bros. has to levy some of the blame. They were unsure about the broad

06:14appeal of animation, and it showed in the lackluster advertising. Others point the finger at The Iron

06:19Giant's very adult tone, which may have scared off families.

06:32Either way, the fact of the matter is the film barely earned back half of its $50 million budget

06:45in theaters. The Iron Giant deserves better.

06:48You are who you choose to be.

06:53Superman.

06:54Number four, The Shawshank Redemption.

06:59You strike me as a particularly icy and remorseless man, Mr. Dufresne.

07:04It chills my blood just to look at you.

07:08By the power vested in me by the state of Maine,

07:11I hereby order you to serve two life sentences back to back.

07:16One for each of your victims.

07:18Just like Annie Dufresne's never found justice, neither this movie. At least, not at first.

07:23Even with seven Academy Award nominations to its name, The Shawshank Redemption still failed to make a

07:28profit during its first theatrical run. The confusing title, lack of female characters,

07:32and stiff competition from other adult dramas were definitely factors, but none of that should

07:37have mattered when reviews were as good as they were for Shawshank Redemption.

07:40If there's any solace here, it's that the film proved moderately more successful on re-release,

07:57and even became the most rented VHS of 1995. It's not quite boxed off its gold, but we'll take it.

08:03Five hundred yards. That's the length of five football fields. Just shy of half a mile.

08:14Number three. It's a wonderful life.

08:16Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about,

08:20they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community.

08:24Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?

08:28This Christmas classic sure didn't start out as a holiday miracle.

08:32As strange as it is to believe, It's a Wonderful Life drew extremely mixed reactions from critics at

08:37the time. The lukewarm response paired all too well with the meager box office returns,

08:41nearly dooming the film to obscurity. But then a real Christmas miracle happened.

08:46It's a Wonderful Life became a fan favorite on television and soon turned into a full-on holiday

08:51staple. Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives.

08:57There wasn't a single Christmas in the 80s you wouldn't find this movie airing on hundreds of

09:01channels. The film's success has endured for generations now with no sign of the slant slowing

09:07down anytime soon.

09:08Zootoot pedals! Zootoot! There they are! Birds! What do you know about them? Merry Christmas!

09:16Well, Merry Christmas! Merry!

09:19It's a sad fact of Hollywood that sometimes the best films don't get their due. Still,

09:36in the case of Citizen Kane, its early feelings had nothing to do with its marketing, release date,

09:41or quality. Actually, it may have been too good.

09:44Only you want love on your own terms. It's something to be played your way according to your rules.

09:52Due to the film's frank portrayal of media tycoons, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst had a

09:57total vendetta against it. He tried suing the studio, orchestrating smear campaigns, and even outright

10:03bribery. Hearst failed to stop the movie's release, but he did successfully bury its debut amid a mountain of

10:10controversy. Sadly for him, Citizen Kane endured, with fans and critics later discovering the film in

10:15all its glory.

10:16Please, Susan.

10:21From now on, everything will be exactly the way you want it to be. Not the way I think you want it, but your way.

10:29Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.

10:36You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them. If you're on your phone,

10:41make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.

10:46Number one, the Wizard of Oz.

10:48Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

10:52As it turns out, going over the rainbow is quite the expensive feat. Dorothy's Technicolor adventures

10:59needed to connect big time if the studio wanted to see any of the color green. Unfortunately,

11:05even though The Wizard of Oz did reasonably well for itself, it wasn't enough to offset the high

11:10production cost. However, it later became a phenomenon on the small screen. So much so,

11:15that the Library of Congress cites it as the most watched movie in film history.

11:19All those royalties didn't just make The Wizard of Oz an unlikely financial success,

11:31it also turned it into one of the most beloved properties ever made.

11:35There's no place like home, indeed.

11:50Which of these surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments down below.

11:54And don't forget to like and subscribe for more WatchMojo videos.

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